Pregnant with twins and feel like crap

[KCBob]

I feel useless. I’m 21 weeks pregnant for the first time with twins. I’m shattered all the time, my pelvis hurts, my foot cramps all the time, my bowels need a plunger to be blunt and I’m up most nights gulping gaviscon. I’m anaemic and moody. Work are not supportive (I work for the NHS). I’ve so long to go and a cannot wait to meet my babies, I’m just not sure how I’m going to get there. Do I just need a slap? Is this normal with twins? Should I just crawl into a dark hole ?

It will be so worth it!

It will be worth it. My friend had a terrible time expecting twins. She was sick almost every day. She only ate chips from the chip shop and drank full fat cola the whole pregnancy! She had healthy babies at 38 weeks who weighed 6lb 7oz each!

Why aren’t your employers supportive? Have you a Manager you can speak to about shorter hours or extra breaks or something? Failing that can you go off sick for a week to catch up with sleep and rest?

Hope eveything goes to plan for you and you soon start to feel better 💐

I'm not sure it's exclusive to twins to be honest. I had an awful pregnancy with DD, but sailed through with DS. Pregnancy, no matter how much you want it, can totally suck. Just try and focus on the fact that there is an end point, you're halfway there. You might start to feel a little bit better soon with any luck.

I really feel for you as i felt grim for most of my twin pregnancy. I was sick and nauseous up to 20 weeks, managed a few weeks where I felt great and was then tired, uncomfortable and in pain until 37 weeks...not to mention the heartburn and anaemia 😩.

On the plus side, I felt AMAZING once theyd been born! Twin pregnancy was far more brutal than newborn twins 😀😀.

In what way is your employer not supportive? They're legally obliged to so certain things so more info around that would help

You're doing amazing. My twins are now 3 and we are expecting a singleton and I can't believe how much easier this pregnancy is. Twin pregnancy is fucking hard!!!

It will all be sooooo worth it!!

Ooo it's really hard but you are only going to get heavier and more tired, I couldn't believe what I was lugging around with me by 9 months! I'm not saying that to be mean but because you have a while left to go you need to prioritise looking after yourself, sort your constipation out like it's your job, drink loads, get your crampy feet massaged etc don't just try and get through it. Get your partner to look after you as he will need to when the babies arrive. But it is such a nice feeling after they are born literally felt light as a feather!

Thanks guys, appreciate the encouragement. To answer an earlier question regarding work not being supportive....I spoke to my manager stating I didn’t think I could keep up with my current work load and that I would end up needing sick time (I’d just returned from 5 days sick) and I was told to manage my diary to suit me better (I work as a community mental health nurse). Unfortunately my diary has to suit the demands of my caseload and the referrals i’m given each week. I feel under a lot of pressure at work, constantly on the go.

I feel you!! My twins are 18m now and the exhaustion I felt when pregnant has only been topped by the sleep deprived night feeding. You will get through. It will be so worth it.

Have work done a risk assessment?! They should accommodate your needs - ie a lower case load. I have a similar job and in theory this was what was supposed to happen. When do you plan to finish work?

It is tough being pregnant with twins. I was just remembering today how long it took me to get anywhere when I was pregnant with my twins. A 10 minute walk from the tube to my office was threatening to exceed half an hour by the time I finally went on maternity leave. I was nauseous all the way through.

One thing that did help me was acupuncture. It cut out the nausea (only on the evening of the day that I had it, but that was better than nothing!) and also really helped with constipation. The NHS antenatal clinic I went to offered acupuncture to pregnant women. Any chance of that for you?

My twins are 2.5 now and I still remember the torture that was pregnancy very vividly.

First trimester: couldn’t eat, couldn’t brush my teeth, such bad fatigue I couldn’t move

Second trimester: SPD, bowel problems, back pain

Third trimester: SPD so bad I couldn’t lie down, sit down or stand up, needing to pee every 2 mins and struggling to haul myself up and down, needing crutches, headaches, more fatigue, blood pressure issues...

Growing two babies at once is fucking hard work - yes, Singleton pregnancies can be hard too, but the energy and nutrients required to actually grow two babies is immense